HP Software update: how to proceed and is there a big impact

[Pagnotta]

Dear All,

I've a question question about the way to update HP software on ours > 200 servers.

Today we have a mix of Compaq , HP software with agents having different names, different version, different terminology and so on...

Furthermore, I'm completely lost with all these agents, versions, also what is part of PSP or not...

Is it possible to upgrade to latest version of HP management software with lowest possible impact, given that we have W2k and W2k3 systems with hardware from Proliant ML370 to Proliant DL580 (DL 360, 380,...) ?

Moreover, what is the best methodology ? We have HP SIM 4.2 SP2 we our systems configured to update from VC Repository manager.

Thanks and regards

Angelo

[Rob Buxton]

You got potential risks for a number of areas, including Firmware Revision levels.

Installing the complete Support Pack is the safest option as it is a tested bundle.
Saying that, Support Pack 7.20A caused us a few problems.
I've not extensively tested 7.30 but so far it has none of the issues the previous version has.
These upgrades will need a reboot to complete, so it depeds on what you mean by impact.

Note that you configure the Agents in the VCRM before deploying, this means you do not need to configure the agents on the clients.

The best methodology?
Here we target Development and Test boxes first. I also schedule remote updates out of hours to our Remote DR Site.
Then we need to liaise with Business Units.
Start with small chunks and then work up.

You'll want to keep your action plan as you'll reuse it.